The present invention relates to glove-to-cuff seals and, in particular, to an apparatus for releasably connecting the wrist portion of a glove to a sleeve cuff to prevent ingress of water. The apparatus is designed to readily connect a glove to a sleeve and readily disconnect for removal and/or safety purposes. The connection apparatus has a short connection length which permits immediate release, even under angularly applied forces. In wet environments, such as those found in the mining industry, workers or miners often require safety gloves and apparel which are waterproof. In underground mines, water which is present naturally or introduced in the mining process tends to infiltrate the miner""s gloves through the separation between the glove and the sleeve of the jacket. Continuous exposure to these wet conditions is known to cause diseases of the hands.
Accordingly, there is a need for a sealing arrangement at or near the glove/cuff interface which will prevent ingress of water. However, for safety reasons, since much of the machinery used in mines has moving parts in which clothing items such as gloves can be caught and pulled off the wearer, having a readily releasable glove is seen as a safety necessity. Accordingly, any connection between the cuff and the glove must be not only waterproof but also readily detachable to prevent serious injury should a glove get caught in machinery. For safety reasons, the disengagement under an applied force should occur automatically and without the need for the wearer to perform any specific operation or manipulation.
It is known to utilize a strap or similar constrictive element to compress an overlapped cuff and glove wrist portion at the wearer""s wrist. It is also known to use a cylindrical intermediary to which both the cuff and sleeve are attached. The problem with such systems is that the releasability of the connection, even if it can occur without the requirement for manual manipulation or additional operations, does not occur in a safe, assured and controlled manner.
Known prior art sleeve-to-cuff connection systems are primarily concerned with providing a positive connection yet are not overly concerned about disconnectability. Disconnectability is a serious safety issue, particularly with workers utilizing machinery, where a glove is too often snagged on moving parts.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to ensure the glove will separate from the cuff automatically in response to a force of predetermined magnitude and duration. In this regard, it would be advantageous to be able to design or engineer this force threshold into the connection rather than permit a user to make a connection whose releasability is dependent on the manner by which the user effects the connection, such as can be the case for example with systems which employ user tightenable straps. Since the force applied to the connection when the glove is caught in machinery is not always axial with respect to the connection, it is also desirable to ensure disconnection can occur angularly.
The present invention provides a simple, inexpensive and easy to implement apparatus for releasably sealing the wrist portion of a glove to a cuff to prevent ingress of water. In general, a first ring is sealingly attached or retained by the cuff while the wrist portion of the glove is sealingly attached to a second ring. The rings are sealingly connectable to one another and separable upon application of a force of predetermined magnitude, direction and duration.
By providing a separable connection apparatus having two components, each of which being temporarily but securely attachable to one of the cuff or the glove, one is better able to control through the manufacturing and material selection process and actually design or engineer quite precisely the resultant disengagement force threshold.
In general, the invention provides an apparatus for releasably securing a glove to a cuff comprising a first ring sealingly attachable to a cuff and second ring sealingly attachable to a glove. The first and second rings are releasably and sealingly connectable to one another to prevent ingress of water therebetween, and the rings are angularly disengageable from one another upon application of an angular separating force of predetermined magnitude and duration.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for releasably securing a glove to a cuff comprising:
a first ring sealingly attachable to a cuff and second ring sealingly attachable to a wrist portion of a glove,
one of the rings having an insertable portion which is insertable within a receiving portion of the other ring, there being a circumferential space between at least a part of said insertable portion and the receiving portion,
connecting means for releasably and sealingly connecting the rings together when the insertable portion is inserted within the receiving portion to prevent ingress of water between the rings,
the rings including stop means for limiting the extent to which the insertable portion is insertable within the receiving portion so as to permit angular disengagement of the rings under application of a predetermined angular force or moment on said rings.
In another embodiment, the apparatus for releasably securing a glove to a cuff comprises:
a first ring having an external circumferential channel against which a cuff can be held by a first constriction means;
a second ring having an external circumferential channel against which a wrist portion of a glove can be held by a second constriction means, the second ring being coaxially insertable at least in part within the first ring so as to form an overlap between the rings;
sealing and retention means provided on an external circumferential surface of the first ring compressible against an internal circumferential surface of the second ring for releasably retaining the second ring in sealing engagement with the first ring, the internal circumferential surface of the second ring being spaced apart from the external circumferential surface of the first ring; and
stop means for limiting the extent of insertion of the second ring whereby the amount overlap of the first ring with respect to the second ring in conjunction with the spacing between the internal circumferential surface of the second ring and the external circumferential surface of the first ring is sufficient so as to permit angular disconnection of the rings upon application of an angular separating force or moment of predetermined magnitude and duration.
Preferably, in this embodiment, the sealing and retaining means takes the form of an o-ring. For safety reasons, the longitudinal extent to which the o-ring is engageable with the internal surface is minimal to reduce the duration a disengaging force would have to be applied before disengagement of said rings would occur. Because this embodiment relies on friction for retention purposes, a force sufficient to overcome the friction is all that is required for disengagement, i.e. disengagement occurs without any additional steps or operations.
The invention also provides for alternate structures for releasably connecting the rings in a sealed relationship.
The apparatus is simple, inexpensive, easy to implement, and should fit existing apparel/gloves.